geometric algorithm developers

Abstract: We study a \emph{collapse process} to construct the farthest Voronoi diagram of lines in three dimensions, given a spherical map of the diagram's unbounded features. The collapse process sweeps through the diagram in order of decreasing distance from the farthest lines. It follows the \emph{shrinking map}, a cell complex on a topological sphere that encodes the locus of points with a fixed farthest distance. We show that, in three dimensions, the collapse process has exactly four non-terminal local event types that change the structure of the shrinking map: \emph{deletion, swap, local minimum}, and \emph{local maximum} events; plus one terminal event. This list is complete. We give intrinsic three-dimensional geometric descriptions of the four non-terminal events. First, we classify the two vertex-related events, deletion and swap events, by the spherical convex hull of the four tangent points from a vertex to its four defining lines. Then, we analyze the events related to the local extrema of the distance function along the trisector of three lines. We show that the distance function along a trisector has at most $4$ local maxima and $8$ local minima, and that both bounds are tight. The extrema can be found via a polynomial of degree $12$. As a byproduct, this gives a direct method for finding the smallest sphere tangent to three given lines. At each local extremum, the tangent sphere touches the three lines at points lying on a great circle. The collapse process and the completeness of the event list also apply, under similar general position assumptions, to the farthest Voronoi diagram of convex sites under strictly convex distance functions.

Abstract: Let ${R^\ast}(n)$ be the least radius of a central circle to which nonoverlapping circles of radii $1,\ldots,n$ are externally tangent. We prove that ${R^\ast}(n)={C_\ast} n^2+o(n^2)$ and characterize ${C_\ast}$ by finite linear programs with an explicit error tending to zero. The reduction preserves arbitrary orders and all pairwise constraints: the limiting problem places marked points on a line at pairwise separation at least the geometric mean of their marks. Concatenation with a bounded boundary cost proves existence, and balanced finite-word programs supply matching effective upper and lower bounds. Their certified gap is $(1/k+1/r)/π$, before directed arithmetic error, for $k$ mark types and words of length $r$. A quantitative reflected-block recovery theorem supplies genuine permutations and full ring geometry, with a countable extension and a strict four-block improvement. The explicit interval is $C_{\mathrm{term}}+η_{\mathrm{width}}\le{C_\ast}\le U_4$; neither endpoint is asserted sharp. In particular, the coefficient $1/8$ proposed in the preceding finite study is false. An elementary expression for ${C_\ast}$, efficient high-precision evaluation and global floating-circle structure remain open.